Work Text:
Akai Shuichi is just one block away from the coffee shop where he grabbed a quick morning coffee 3 minutes ago, when something that feels suspiciously like the barrel of a gun presses onto his back. He hasn't sensed anything out of ordinary - no approaching footsteps from the back, no suspicious shadow on the sidewalk or reflected out of the window. Impressive.
"Freeze," a familiar voice which he hasn't heard for years says coolly. It almost makes him nostalgic.
Raising his hands up, the gesture half-mocking and half-sincere, Akai says, "I'm willing to surrender this cup of ice coffee."
A light scoff. And then the pressure of the barrel disappears. Akai turns around to find a familiar face from a few years ago.
"You're getting old, Akai," Furuya Rei remarks, loftily. The gun is nowhere in sight, but he could probably make a list of the possible places it might be hidden in plain sight. "10 years ago you would've never let me sneak up on you like that."
"So are you," Akai offers. "10 years ago you would've never admitted something like that."
Furuya barks out a sharp laugh. "Touché."
They study each other for a moment, boldly and curiously, taking in the changes in appearances of their old rival and onetime ally. There is a certain aura - sharper, more edges and less smooth - on Furuya, different from what Akai remembers from the old days, but that might be because Bourbon stayed undercover at the organization until the very end, so it was the Bourbon identity that Akai had always been most familiar with. More mysterious, more playful, more cavalier. Charming in an entirely dangerous way, and twice as annoying.
Of course, Akai isn't surprised to see Furuya in New York, isn't even that surprised to have him just sneak up on him like that, although he will admit to not quite have predicted he will show up at this specific moment. Just two days ago he met with another old rival - or friend, or onetime ally (rather describes a lot of people in this line of work, admittedly) he hasn't seen recently, although one he has been more in touch with than he and Furuya. CIA's Hondou Hidemi invited him out for a friendly drink. Which was code for work talk in an unofficial setting. They're both fairly busy with their own work and lives, and Hondou has never been the type to reach out unnecessarily. Basically, these days, he usually only ever get the chance to see her when the CIA wanted a favor from the FBI that only specific agents of theirs (read: Akai) could fulfil, and Hondou's bosses wanted to cash in on Akai and Hondou's once-upon-a-time-deeply-bounded-life-on-the-line-alliance to get Akai to agree to the favor.
Just a few days ago, a Japanese senator visiting New York died of a heart attack in his hotel room. At least, heart attack is the official story. Apparently, CIA caught wind of the news that the Japanese had decided to send their own people to investigate the matter to the the sensitive nature of the whole incident, because there were doubts that things are not as it seemed.
"It is a heart attack, no foul play there, our people looked into it," Hondou said that night, calm and measured like she always is. Which means nothing, obviously. Akai has seen this woman lie to Gin with a calm and convincing attitude. Various times. She also has the same attitude when she's telling the truth. "Although there are just enough coincidences for the Zero department to raise doubts, apparently. They're bound to reach the same conclusion soon - if not already. But they're still sending someone."
Akai raised an eyebrow. "Oh? An old acquaintance of ours, I presume." His eyes turned thoughtful. "You think he's here for something else - something other than the investigation of the senator's death. The investigation is just a cover."
"Precisely," Hondou confirmed. "They need not send someone of Furuya's level to simply investigate a death - even one under circumstances as such. Even one of a senator's." She paused. "We have reason to believe that the senator met up with a few donors - big names from various industries - while he was here. There was a private party last week when an important namelist was sold."
"That's incredibly vague," Akai said dryly.
Hondou shrugged. Cool, calm, unrepentant. "That's all that's relevant for now. The content of the list is not something you need to concern yourself with. All you need to know is that -"
"That the NPA obviously wants it, and hence why they're sending Furuya here under the guise of 'investigating the senator's death', and the CIA wants to get the list before he does, hence why you're here talking to me, because you're about to ask me to 'join in and investigate the death with him', while secretly keeping an eye on him and try to recover the list before he could, and pass it along to you. Did I miss anything?" Akai drawled.
Hondou rolled her eyes. "That's pretty much the gist. How astute of you," she said dryly. "Anyway, we initially worried that the list might've been with one of the CEO's secretary, and has been flown out of Manhattan already after their secret meeting ended. And while we're still keeping an eye on that, at this point we're pretty certain that's it's still here."
Because the Zero department has decided to send Furuya to New York, Akai thinks. Then he asks, "Makes sense. Why me, though?"
"You worked with him before - both back in the organization as Rye and Bourbon, and later during the joint operation to take down the organization. The CIA believed that against a dangerous enemy and unpredictable like Furuya ...... they need someone like you, who's worked with him before, to ensure that the namelist does not fall into his hands."
There's only one reason that the CIA could know about the details of who used to work with whom back in the organization, and which people worked together during the joint investigation.
"You recommended me for the job," Akai said. It's not a question.
"You're welcome," Hondou shrugged, easily. "I've been authorized to negotiate, and give you whatever information the FBI may want to get from us." A clever move, because then, Akai's superiors who wanted things from CIA would have incentive to get Akai to take on this side gig.
Akai sighed, if a bit dramatically. "Oh well, James would never forgive me if I don't take this chance to mention this ...."
And so they settled on a final agreement, and since Furuya would supposedly be visiting on official business, he would be arriving through official channels, completely above board and reported to the FBI and all that. There would be an official meeting in the FBI's offices where they would agree to investigate the senator's "suspicious" death together, when in fact Furuya would probably be trying to find that namelist, and it would be Akai's job to get it before he could.
That was two days ago.
Right now, Akai Shuichi is on his way to the offices at Federal Plaza, and is soon to be at that official meeting three hours later.
It isn't actually that surprising that of course Furuya decides to pop up suddenly and greet him first.
"So, are you actually carrying a gun?" Akai asks.
Furuya laughs, easy and pleasant. He seems like Bourbon again. Then he produces a fairly realistically designed toy gun from his bag and shows it to Akai. Akai examines it. It could certainly be the barrel he was feeling on his back, but that doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility of him carrying some an actual gun on him. Akai doesn't point this out and just decides that he will keep this in mind and keep an eye on things, but he has no doubt that Furuya knows what he's thinking. That's the thing about working with professionals - sometimes they're predictable in ways that amateurs are not.
Akai quickly learns that Furuya has already booked a room at the very hotel the senator died at. Not surprising, since he is here for investigative purposes, and probably will be questioning the staff there. And also, according to CIA's information, the namelist is very likely to be found there. Or, the clues to where it may be right now can be found at the hotel.
Hence why Akai is also staying there for the duration, even though technically his family owns an apartment in Manhattan. He doesn't want to intrude on Masumi and her girlfriend, anyway. Masumi probably wouldn't mind, actually, and would be very thrilled to get involved in the case, but Akai absolute has no plans of involving her.
Anyway, since Furuya is staying at the hotel, Akai definitely has to as well, because the CIA wants him to keep an eye on Furuya, and intercept the namelist. Unfortunately, the CIA themselves does not have a clear idea of where exactly the namelist could be found, just that Furuya most likely had some leads he won't reveal, so Akai's job is to discreetly keep track of him, figure out where that list is from where Furuya is visiting and who he's talking to, and then get to the list before Furuya can.
"If anyone could do it, it's you," Hondou said, two days ago. She meant it less as flattery and more as "get this done, or else". That's part of her charm. Akai likes that about her. Vermouth once described Kir as someone who "doesn't bark, but definitely bites". The phrasing was intentional, a reference to the execution of Ethan Hondou - none other than Kir's own father, but they didn't know at that time. The rotten apple has always been an exceptional liar, talented actress that she is. But Akai thinks on this subject she wasn't quite wrong, and in fact pinpoint accurate.
He's sure that Furuya knows what Akai's secret task is. Officially to investigate the senator's death with him, but secretly keeping an eye on him and trying to track down the list and intercept it before Furuya can get to it. Neither of them brings up that subject and has instead, after perfunctory small talk, quickly segue into the subject of the senator's death, engaging in a heated debate on what could be the cause of the senator's death. They've both read the initial report by the local police, but just that. NYPD promised to send more details which should arrive before Akai and Furuya's arranged meeting at FBI offices, or if not, at least by the end of day.
"No foul play there," Hondou had reassured him. "Truly a heart attack."
The thing about Hondou Hidemi is that, well, Akai would trust her with his life, but probably not all the details of an ongoing case, especially one assigned to him by the CIA, for a variety of complicated reasons. For all he know, perhaps the CIA, wanting to acquire the list all along, killed the senator for it, and then realized that only got them a fake copy, and they needed to both bury this case as a heart attack and still try to get their hands on the real list. It's totally possible. Akai would have to see to the investigation himself and draw his own conclusions.
Does the backstory matter here? Would that change what Akai's mission is? Well, perhaps not. He will try to acquire the list regardless, but if Hondou was hiding something from him, he has plans on finding that out, as well. Not that he intends to simply let Furuya take the list. It's more like he will still get the list for CIA, but find a way to keep a copy for the FBI, and possibly, if there was indeed foul play, blackmail the CIA into agreeing with - well, James would think of something. That part is his playing field.
The senator's hotel room was cleaned up, although not hosting any new guests at the moment. They examine the room. Furuya does not do any outright move of searching the cabinets or looking for any hidden drawer compartment. They talk about the case, the surrounding circumstances. The concierge who found the body was not on duty at the moment, but will be later today after 6.
"Well," Furuya says, in late afternoon. "Since I'm in Manhattan, might as well do some sight seeing."
Akai raises an eyebrow. "On the first day?"
Furuya shrugs. "We still need to wait till the concierge and staffing manager to come in later today, and NYPD has yet to send over all the evidence."
"You've mellowed," Akai remarks, with wry amusement. "I thought you're a workaholic. Who are you and what have you done with Furuya Rei?"
"This is efficient time management," Furuya says, easily. "Since I can't make progress at the moment anyway, obviously I should be using the time for some sightseeing around the city, so that I don't need to spend extra time here after that case's solved."
"In which case, I can give you a tour," Akai offers.
"Don't you have other work you need to be doing?" Furuya asks, skeptically. "I've been taken off all other cases and literally have nothing else to do at the moment."
Akai shrugs, unconcerned. "Nothing urgent. Besides, I'm James's favorite." That, and obviously he doesn't believe Furuya is merely going "sightseeing". He's very likely going to use this time to search for that list. It's possible that from earlier this morning at the senator's hotel room he had somehow gotten clues on where to look next - or perhaps he always had clues that CIA didn't know, and is in fact planning to check out those leads after he managed to get alone.
Furuya scoffs. "Sounds like you're just using me as an excuse to skive off work."
"That, too," Akai says, without a trace of shame.
Furuya rolls his eyes. Then he says. "Well, I've never really gotten the chance to go up Empire State Building before, so this seems like a good chance."
Akai ends up tagging along with Furuya's sightseeing, and mentally starts calculating whether the fact that Furuya is allowing him to tag along is because he's confident enough in finding a way to discreetly search for clues about the whereabouts of the list, or is this really part of sightseeing and he's misleading Akai into thinking there are clues here, and in fact will be sneaking out by himself later at night for the actual clues. Hondou has already prepared for such possibilities, and ensured that the hotel corridors are under surveillance. Whenever Furuya leaves his hotel room, either Akai or some other agent will be notified, and tail him to wherever he goes. In fact, Akai suspects there are agents on their tail at the moment. Furuya is either not noticing that, or decides not to point out even if he did notice.
And since it's Furuya, there is really only one possibility.
They grab dinner at a ramen store that apparently was mentioned in a magazine a few months back, and Morofushi has instructed Furuya to visit while he's here.
"He made me a list of restaurants he wanted me to try out," Furuya says, taking a picture of their dinner before sending it to Morofushi via Line messages. Not long after, Morofushi sent back some quick comments on how it looks, and also with a picture of his own breakfast.
"How is Morofushi, by the way?" Akai asks.
"Busy," Furuya replies. "He wanted to come with me, actually - he'd love to try out these restaurants himself, but his department's swamped with work also, so he's stuck in Tokyo."
"Do you always send each other pictures of your meals whenever you're apart?" Akai can't help ask.
"Yes," Furuya says. He glares at Akai challengingly, as if daring him to make some kind of remark about it.
"That's ..." Akai pauses, "sweet." He finally settles on a relatively safe choice of adjective. Or so he hopes.
"You wouldn't understand," Furuya says, if a bit condescendingly.
"I really don't," Akai admits freely.
They finally get the chance to talk to the concierge who found the senator's body when they're back to the hotel, and spends some time questioning him. Also made a list of all the staff members they want to talk to the coming days. From what he's observed so far, Akai's leaning towards this really being a heart attack and not something else. But if the senator's health condition is not exactly a secret .... he muses, thoughtfully.
After they part ways and head back to each of their own room, Akai's just stepped into the shower when Hondou's text comes, informing that apparently Furuya has stepped out of the hotel again. Her people will keep on his tail but Akai better hurry to catch up just in case.
Akai sighs, and puts on his shirt again.
Well, if there's anything that hasn't changed about Furuya, it's his efficiency. This is only the first night.
"We lost him on the subway," came another text, 5 minutes later. "Stay at the hotel, I'll have others follow up."
Akai Shuichi has never been particularly good at following instructions, so he heads out of the hotel anyway. He checks the four tracking devices he's managed to attach to Furuya's belongings throughout the day - two seem to already be in the hotel lobby's trashcan. Another back in his hotel room. But there's a final one that's moving. The one's he was counting for it to be ignored and missed.
A slow, wolfish grin surfaces onto his face.
That night, following Furuya's trail, Akai Shuichi visits two bars, one shady hotel, and the Central Park.
The next morning, Furuya looks as same as ever, showing no signs of lacking sleep, and Akai looks like he badly needs to overdose on caffeine, which mostly means he looks the same as ever, as well.
The NYPD's files and evidence have finally arrived at the FBI offices, so that's where they head. Out of the corner of his eyes, Akai catches Furuya checking his messages, and sees that apparently Morofushi had udon for dinner a couple of hours ago.
They spend most of the day debating over various parts of NYPD's evidence and reports, before heading off to the hotel again. They manage to get hold of a few staff members that weren't in yesterday and talk to them.
They visit another restaurant on the list Morofushi gave Furuya later that evening.
"How's Hondou-san?" Furuya asks, during dinner.
"I don't really see her much. We don't work together, after all."
"Mmmm, and when's the last time you two met?"
"I think it must be ..... 7, no, 8 months ago?" Akai says. "At D.C." It's not exactly a lie, if one overlooks the fact that they met up just a few days ago. Akai launches into a story of the incident that brought them both to D.C., Furuya listening in and occasionally making some snide comment.
Furuya slips out of the hotel discreetly again later that night.
Akai follows him, equally discreetly.
Three bars - one from the previous night, and two new ones. Backstage of an off-Broadway theater. Akai recognizes the place - a couple of years ago, when Kudo Yukiko visited the East Coast, she called him up and the two ended up catching a musical there. She actually came with her son and Osaka's currently most famous detective. But, according to her, "Shin-chan and Heiji-kun abandoned me and went to have fun themselves."
It goes on, for a few more days. "Suspicious death" investigations by day - which is seeming less and less suspicious at it goes on, and one tailing another at night. Until one night Furuya doesn't go out -
"He already got the list," Hondou concludes, voice cool and flat on the phone. "I need you to distract him while I go in and search his hotel room."
It's a reasonable conclusion, Akai thinks. He doesn't have an argument against it, except his instincts are telling him that Hondou's not quite correct. Furuya's demeanor, as always, shows nothing. He's still acting like he's just here to investigate the senator's death. Which he is close to concluding is merely an unfortunate medical incident, after all.
Akai very much doubts that Hondou would find the list in Furuya's room. Either Furuya's carrying the list on himself - possible, in which means it might come down to a fight if things get dirty - or Furuya has hid it somewhere. Perhaps a locker somewhere. Akai starts mentally tracing the places Furuya visited last night, for anyplace that could be used to hide something at. Theoretically, both he and Hondou should be more familiar with Manhattan than Furuya, and so if they try to put themselves in Furuya's shoes, they may be able to put together a list of which places to search.
"It's not in his room," Hondou tells him, later.
"Mmm," Akai says.
"You don't sound surprised." Hondou says.
"Are you?" Akai asks.
A beat. "No," Hondou replies. "It's Bourbon, after all."
It is indeed.
Another beat of silence, and Hondou adds. "But we know the city better than he does."
"Manhattan's big enough - plus, he's visited New York alongside of Vermouth quite a few times, back in the days. He may even still had some contacts here."
"Right. Well, keep a close eye on him."
"Are you going to have me drug him and search him?"
Hondou doesn't answer immediately. Then she says, "Considering Furuya, he may very well decided to carry the list on himself."
"That's not a no," Akai says. He continues, "He's here for official purposes - obviously I don't care much for politics when I'm doing things, but you had to know there will be repercussions if you decide to give the go ahead to that route."
Akai catches Furuya scrolling his phone and watching the video of the instagram story of one of his friends. Furuya notices, and turns at him and scowls, "They've taken the chance to all go out for karaoke together while I'm away. Traitors."
In the video there're the two bomb squad officers Akai recall having met twice, and another officer from Division One he's met more than a few times, when he was Okiya Subaru. Morofushi is not in the video directly, but he can hear someone playing guitar in the background while the shoulder-length haired officer belts off the chorus of a song.
Not particularly surprising - these three all have pretty public-facing jobs, in contrast with Furuya and Morofushi.
Furuya explains, "Hiro never shows his face in Hagiwara's instagram stories - but he's appeared enough times playing guitar in the background that Hagiwara's wide web of acquaintances believe that he is actually a lady guitarist from some band and secretly dating Hagiwara."
"I thought Morofushi plays the bass," Akai says.
"He can play both," Furuya shrugs. "Plus, it's a misdirection. Hagi's excited about that, it makes him feel like he's in some spy film."
Akai looks at Furuya thoughtfully. An idea occurs to him - "you're the one who plays the guitar more."
Furuya freezes, momentarily. And then he raises an eyebrow.
"So," Akai says. "There's this invisible guitarist who never shows their face - it's sometimes Morofushi playing the guitar in the background, but sometimes it's you, right? So it's not that Hagiwara-kun's instagram fans are mistaking Morofushi as Hagiwara-kun's secret guitarist girlfriend, it's they're mistaking you two as the secret guitarist girlfriend."
"Minor details," Furuya rolls his eyes, waving a hand dismissively.
"You know him better than I do," Hondou says. "Do you think he has the list on him? Or in his bag, perhaps? Do you have a chance to search it without him noticing?"
"I'm not sure if it's on him, but if you haven't found it from all the possible places that we listed ...." Akai trails off. "By the way, I'd much rather just fight him than drug him. Because it's easier."
"But then we tip our hand that we knew what he's here for."
"So what if we tip our hand? Do you honestly expect him not to know why I was assigned to work with him in the first place?"
"Fair enough," Hondou concedes. Then she asks, suspiciously. "Or are you just curious if you can still take him in a fight?"
"That would be a bonus," Akai says, languidly.
Hondou scoffs. "Men," she sighs.
He tips his hand.
The fight is messy. Weirdly nostalgic, and also reminding him that he's not as young as he once was.
He does not find the list.
"What list?" Furuya asks, narrowing his eyes, when Akai confronts him.
"You know what I'm talking about," Akai replies.
"Do I?" Furuya says. "And what are you going to do if I say I have no idea where that is? I am, after all, here on very specific official business."
They stare at each other.
"Hypothetically," Furuya says slowly. "If I indeed know what you're talking about. That there exists such a hypothetical list which I managed to acquire during the last few days. That you're working with your pals to get ahold of -and they told you that they do not find it in my room, hence why you've decided I must be keeping it on me. Have you considered that you may have been lied to?"
The possibility, of course, has crossed Akai's mind. That the CIA went into Furuya's room and found the list, and decided to pretend they didn't, so they could get the list while saying Akai didn't complete his job, and therefore CIA has no obligations to fulfill their earlier promises to the FBI. From Hondou's calm but with an underlying tension in her voice earlier on the phone, from the urgency's she's been acting with, she doesn't quite seem like she's acting.
But Akai, of all people, knows how good an actor she could be.
This is the woman who managed to fool Gin.
And then, there's the chance that Hondou herself is not aware of the entire picture, that perhaps Hondou's superiors has lied to her, in light of her history with Akai. They are all merely chesspieces in this larger game.
Or, of course, Furuya can be lying and trying to drive a wedge between their alliance.
He's missing a piece of puzzle, he thinks.
There's a clue, somewhere. His instincts are telling him that he's already seen it, that it's close, within grasp.
There is an underlying pattern here, something he's seen before.
But what?
He doesn't find the list, and they can't really keep Furuya here any longer. At least, not without escalating things.
Plus, there is also the possibility that Furuya did find out the whereabouts of the list - and perhaps that was destroyed. That's why his search had to stop. Perhaps nobody has that list anymore.
Akai doesn't personally think that's the answer, but that's what he told Hondou and the CIA to get them to back off before they decide to escalate this.
He's still missing a piece of the puzzle. He wants to investigate this on his own, discreetly.
It's thirty minutes after Furuya's plane back to Tokyo took off that an idea hits.
The pattern he's seen before.
Something that's been right in front of him the whole time these few days, but only half of the whole picture. There's an entire other half hidden.
He thinks about Furuya's and Morofushi's messages to each other, the pictures of each meal. "How sweet," he has said.
Hagiwara Kenji's instagram story at the karaoke. The invisible guitarist that could be either one of two people, but in this case just a specific one, because the other one is here, in New York, with him. So people could never know that the invisible guitarist playing the tunes in the background is one person, or two, that day.
Once upon a time, the Whiskey Trio went on missions together. Bourbon and Scotch each have their skillsets, and were very capable of completing tasks on their own, if needed. But when they teamed up, there's a specific model of gameplay, a specific pattern, that they were very, very good at.
It was this: when Bourbon distracts the target, Scotch attacks from a hidden place.
Rye's seen this at play, Bourbon serving up drinks, playing his bartender role, Bourbon leading guests to seats, acting as a waiter. Bourbon played a role, and led the targets to specific spots. He always played whatever role he needed to play convincingly. Faraway, Scotch fired the shot. Or, sometimes, less far away, Scotch stealthily attacked when the target was distracted.
Bourbon plays a role. Scotch hides in the dark, and then -
The namelist is not in New York. Hasn't been, for the past few days. NPA's Zero department sends one officer as representative to "investigate the senator's death", and the CIA assumed that Furuya is obviously here to look for the namelist himself, under the guise of the investigation. It's a reasonable assumption, that they would send someone like Furuya for this job. Furuya. Competent, efficient, sharp. Can hunt anything down, with his Bourbon credentials and contacts and this excellent record of tracking things down.
It's what Furuya's very good at, both Hondou and Akai know. That's why it didn't feel like a performance, didn't feel like playing a role. Well, they assume he was playing a role, but that the role was "just an officer investigating the death of a senator", not "someone with a secret agenda to find a specific list". The latter, they thought, was exactly who Furuya was being.
Except, Akai realizes now, that must be the actual performance.
Bourbon plays a role, he thinks, and Scotch -
He's worked with them too many times back in the organization to have missed that. In his defense, he also hasn't met them for quite a while, now. Years, actually.
"The list was with one of the CEO's secretaries, as CIA originally considered it could be," Akai says.
"But why send Furuya to Manhatt-" Hondou halts abruptly. Akai thinks she's figured out as well. "He's a distraction."
The way Akai happened to see some of those pictures of "meals" Morofushi was presumably sending from Japan, but in fact was probably just part of what they pre-planned. The instagram story he happened to catch Furuya looking at, where Morofushi wasn't actually in the video, not directly. It could be anyone playing the guitar in the background. It could be one of two people. It could be two people there. In this case, it's neither one of the two usual people. It may be pre-recorded, even. Misdirection, Furuya has said. Hagi's excited about that, it makes him feel like he's in some spy film.
"They played us."
Morofushi picks Furuya up at the airport, being the one who arrived home sooner. He'd spent the past few days transferring on flights - going from Seattle to Vancouver on car with one fake identity, taking a plane from Vancouver to St. Petersburg with another, and a third fake identity for the flight back to Tokyo. While he was in Seattle, he'd managed to track down a certain CEO's secretary, and obtained the precious list everyone is searching for.
"Did they suspect you?" Is the first thing Morofushi asks, after a quick hug and kiss.
"Not at first - I think Akai is close to figuring something out near the end, and he'll probably figure it all out eventually." Furuya says. "We had a fight. He tried to body-search me. Oh, and I'm fairly certain he's in contact with Hondou-san. Anyway, you gave the list to Chief Kuroda?"
"Yesterday. So we can head home directly now."
"Excellent," Furuya says, stretching lazily, sliding down a little on the passenger seat of the RX7. "I manage to get this chef to tell me the recipe of the ramen .... I think you'll want to try it out."
From the driver's seat, Morofushi half-turns to him and grins. "Thanks, Zero," he says, fondly. "You're the best."